Highfields Church of Christ

A Welcoming Place

Inspirations

Just US

· ·

Have you noticed the ‘Us & Them’ rhetoric from all different angles lately? The rhetoric is not new, but we are becoming more polarizing each day. This extreme polarization is fueled by three main things: Social Media, Keyboards, & Fear. Let me unpack what I mean and how these things are like petrol being poured on a fire.

Social Media is set up to get a reaction and keep our eyes on the screen. A complex computer algorithm has figured out the thing that keeps humans glued to a screen. which is often our outrage. We spend time on our phone looking at things the algorithm knows will keep our attention. Social Media is even where many of us will get our news reports, which are fixed to meet the algorithm we created. This means we often don’t hear from opposing opinions unless it is a click bait item which will spark outrage. This has stopped us from seeing the perspective of the other, keeping us entangled in our algorithm where we feel it is ‘Us & Them’.

Keyboards enable the fire set by the social media algorithm to grow faster. We can show easily pick the other apart when they remain an object. This allows us to speak to people by typing things on a keyboard we would never say in person. We become disconnected from the other, unable to see them as a person. Since there is no social interaction which creates a lack of social cues, there is a constant state of misunderstanding. A voice is created in our head about how the person sounded, and the social cues they are giving which often is not accurate. We stay brave behind our keyboards saying things and creating social cues for the other while dehumanizing them.

Fear keeps us in this place where we stay trapped behind our keyboard and create friendship groups that are presented to us by our social algorithm. What else are we to do but see the world becoming increasingly divisive, which allows our fear takes hold of us, telling us to stay away from the other. A narrative is created in our head where the other (those who don’t agree with us) are out to get us and lack the level of humanity we possess. Making us conclude that the only we can do is fear them because they will hurt, attack, and potentially show us there is more to the narrative developed inside our heads.

Our society is facing an out-of-control forest fire where we are attempting to create a world where it is ‘Us & Them.’ Pushing rhetoric and narratives that enable us to dehumanize someone who thinks differently. I believe as followers of Christ it is time to do the work in putting out this forest fire because there is no ‘Us & Them‘, there is JUST US. We are all humans created with a divine spark, and Genesis 1:27 makes that clear,

“So God created man*Hebrew word here includes both men and women* in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them.” – ESV

As Christians let’s show the world there is only JUST US by stepping out of comfort zones. Building relationships with the others who think differently to us and having face to face conversations while enjoying a meal, coffee, beer, or wine together. Hearing the heart of others without attempting to tell them how they are wrong. Creating an atmosphere where we can share our opinions without judgement and persecution because we are all humans doing the best we can on this planet. Always remembering that,

“For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him.” John 3:16-17 ESV

by Pastor Matt George

Be Curious

· ·

I read this blog post recently called Be Curious which has led to me being curious when it comes to helping my kids on their faith journey. Not only my kids but those who come to me seeking advice. Making me relook at the way I pastor the Church I have the privilege of leading. This curiosity has led to a wonderful time of reflection with God. That is why I am posting it here on our website to allow you to join me in being curious when it comes to supporting others in their faith journey. I pray you read this blog post and are blessed by it as you journey with God in your life.

Sincerely,

Pastor Matt George

SARAH BRAGG
Host of Surviving Sarah Podcast | Author of A Mother’s Guide to Raising Herself | Helping people survive right where they ar

One of the areas in parenting where fear fights curiosity the most is in regard to faith. I remember correcting six-year-old Sinclair for something she’d done wrong, but it felt all wobbly. It felt like I was trying to force a square peg into a round hole. As I explained to Sinclair that she needed to ask forgiveness from me for her wrong action, I also told her she needed to ask forgiveness from God. As someone who grew up evangelical, I had it drilled into me that no matter what “wrong” I’ve done, I must ask forgiveness from God. This logic never felt wonky to me until I looked into the face of my little girl. And even though it felt wonky, being the good Christian girl I was, I kept moving forward. Fear was yelling at me from the backseat, If you don’t get her to see her need for Jesus, she is screwed for eternity!

That’s when my husband, Scott stepped in, brave enough to interrupt me and say he didn’t think we were going about this well. He stepped forward in the thick of vulnerability and uncertainty. At the risk of making me upset, he spoke up. And he was right. Sinclair could barely comprehend how her offense was wrong toward another person, let alone toward a God she couldn’t see. So right then and there, we looked at fear and reminded it to sit quietly in the backseat. It’s scary to do something different from how you were taught and how everyone around you is doing it. But we were curious. We wondered, What difference would it make in our girls’ lives if they didn’t grow up fearing their actions, fearing that God was watching, feeling disappointed, and waiting for an apology?

So we made a choice about faith and our kids. We stopped pointing out their needs for a Savior—a remedy for their sinfulness. We focused more on loving yourself and loving your neighbor. In moments like I described before, we focused on just making it right with the other human that they hurt. We wanted to build a faith on love instead of a faith built on your need for a Savior.

Curiosity is all about asking questions. And so I started asking questions about other parts of my faith. Curiosity allowed me to ask those questions freely. But most importantly, it allowed me to give my girls space to ask their own faith questions. Most likely because of my personality, I didn’t grow up asking questions; I grew up just accepting what I was told. But I knew I wanted my girls to live curious lives instead of lives driven by fear, especially in regard to faith, and I knew I needed to model for them how to do this.

Scott and I had experienced enough as adults to know that life was far less clear and certain than we’d grown up believing. And after raising our girls for a while, we knew they both had a kid’s natural ability to see life from different perspectives. We didn’t want them to lose that.

We thought about how to help them build a faith of their own. To do that, we wanted them to become women who can ask questions and think critically to determine what and why they believe something. When they were little, we said things like, “God loves you,” and “God made you,” but we avoided certain Bible stories that could lead to fear or cause confusion about God’s love. Then, as they grew, we leaned into their natural curiosity—their developmental wiring to think like engineers and scientists. This may not be for everyone, but we stopped giving certain answers about faith to their curious questions. Instead, we replaced answers with questions like, “People believe a lot of different things. What do you think?” We want them to figure out for themselves what they believe so that they can develop a faith of their own—not just a neatly packaged faith that was handed to them. 

We all know that there is nothing “neat” about life. Life is often messy and more gray than we imagined as children. We want our girls to hold space for the unknown. To ask questions. To be curious. To wonder.

We tend to think that the opposite of faith is doubt, but the opposite of faith is certainty. Faith in its essence requires an ability to sit in the unknown—in what we cannot see. 

Raising my girls has highlighted the uncertainty of life. It has highlighted all the things I didn’t know, all the things I couldn’t understand, and all the things that didn’t have a clear answer. But instead of decreasing my faith, it increased my faith—my ability to believe in what I cannot see and embrace the uncertainty instead of fearing it. 

That’s what I want for my girls. I don’t want the unknown and uncertainty of life to bump up against what they always believed was certain to the point that it wrecks their faith. Instead, I want them to build their faith piece by piece through curiosity and questions. 

One of the greatest gifts we can give our kids is an open-ended response. When we respond to their questions with curiosity instead of fear, our kids find freedom. They learn that curiosity is not the enemy. We have close friends who see it differently but still guide their kids toward curiosity. They still give certain answers and encourage them to ask questions. My point is that no matter how you choose to talk about faith with your kids, the goal is the same: for them to own their own faith. And curiosity is a wonderful guide.

___

Enjoyed this post from Sarah Bragg? Here’s where you can find out more!

Website: https://www.sarahbragg.com/

Book: A Mother’s Guide to Raising Herself

Podcast: Surviving Sarah

Instagram/Twitter: @sarahwbragg

Preaching “On the Mount”

· ·

The following is Richard Rhor’s Daily Meditation from Centre for Action and Contemplation

   Popular religious scholar and friend Diana Butler Bass shares how Jesus’ teaching “on the mount” placed him in the lineage of Moses and other revered Jewish prophets. Jesus builds on his own Jewish tradition to call his hearers to transformative living. She writes: This section [Matthew 5–7] opens with Jesus going “up the mountain,” a deliberate choice that ancient Jewish Christians would have recognized as aligning Moses and Jesus. The Sermon on the Mount opens with blessings—on the poor, those who mourn, the meek, and those who hunger—in the same way that Moses pronounces blessings on the people of Israel as they prepare to enter the land of milk and honey in Deuteronomy 28. . ..  

Jesus’s first hearers would have understood what he was doing. Jesus was restating the written Torah, the passed-down law of Moses, in the words of his own “oral Torah,” a practice common in Judaism. In Matthew, Jesus places himself in the line of authoritative voices in the Hebrew tradition. Although this was done throughout the history of Israel by teachers, scribes, and prophets, including the most revered leaders, when Jesus claimed to join the ranks of these teachers, it was a pretty gutsy thing to do. . ..   Near the end of the sermon, Jesus states the Golden Rule, the foundation of all the commandments: “In everything do to others as you would have them do to you; for this is the law and prophets” (7:12) . . . .

The crowds got it—Jesus the rabbi was at work renewing and reinterpreting the law and, in the process, claiming the divine authority to do so: a teacher and a prophet. . . .   Jesus does not replace. Jesus reimagines and expands, inviting an alternative and often innovative reading of Jewish tradition. [1]

The German preacher and religious reformer Eberhard Arnold (1883–1935) believed that the people who heard Jesus’ message—both in his own time as well as ours—were obligated to act on the ancient call of God to live the Great Commandment, not simply listen to it.

It is incredible dishonesty in the human heart to pray daily that this kingdom should come, that God’s will be done on earth as in heaven, and at the same time to deny that Jesus wants this kingdom to be put into practice on earth. Whoever asks for the rulership of God to come down on earth must believe in it and be wholeheartedly resolved to carry it out. Those who emphasize that the Sermon on the Mount is impractical and weaken its moral obligations should remember the concluding words, “Not all who say ‘Lord’ to me shall reach the kingdom of heaven, but only those who do the will of my Father in heaven” [Matthew 7:21]. [2]  

[1] Diana Butler Bass, Freeing Jesus: Rediscovering Jesus as Friend, Teacher, Savior, Lord, Way, and Presence (HarperOne: 2021), 39, 40, 41. 

[2] Eberhard Arnold, Salt and Light: Living the Sermon on the Mount, 4th ed. (Plough Publishing House: 1998), 135.

New Lens

· ·

Listen to our Good Friday Message and may God’s grace and peace be with you.

A Gospel Lens

· ·

This is from Richard Rohr’s Daily Meditation from the Center for Action and Contemplation

  You are not here to verify,
Instruct yourself, or inform curiosity
Or carry report. You are here to kneel
Where prayer has been valid. —T. S. Eliot,
“Little Gidding”

Everybody looks at the world through their own lens, a matrix of culturally inherited qualities, family influences, and other life experiences. This lens, or worldview, truly determines what we bring to every discussion. When Jesus spoke of the coming of the Reign of God, he was trying to change people’s foundational worldview. When Francis of Assisi described his “marriage to Lady Poverty,” he was using a lovely metaphor to explain his central thesis for life. When Americans identify money as “the bottom line,” they are revealing more about their real worldview than they realize.

We would do well to get in touch with our own operative worldview. It is there anyway, so we might as well know what this highly influential window on reality is. It’s what really motivates us. Our de facto worldview determines what catches our attention and what we don’t notice at all. It’s largely unconscious and yet it drives us to do this and not that. It is surely important to become conscious of such a primary lens or we will never know what we don’t see and why we see other things out of all perspective. Until we can allow the Gospel to move into that deepest level of the unconscious and touch our operative worldviews, nothing substantial is going to change. It will only be rearranging the furniture, not constructing a new room. Conversion is about constructing a new room, or maybe even a whole new house. Our operative worldview is formed by three images that are inside every one of us. They are not something from outside; they have already taken shape within us. All we can do is become aware of them, which is to awaken them.

The three images to be awakened and transformed are our image of self, our image of God, and our image of the world. A true hearing of the Gospel transforms those images into a very exciting and, I believe, truthful worldview. When we say Christ is the truth, that’s what we mean. Christ renames reality correctly, according to what reality honestly is, putting aside whatever we think it is or whatever we fear it is. Reality is always better than any of us imagined or feared; there is joy associated with a true hearing of the Gospel.

All together, we could put it this way: “What should life be?” “Why isn’t it?” “How do we repair it?” When these are answered for us, at least implicitly, we have our game plan and we can live safely and with purpose in this world.

Adapted from Richard Rohr, The Wisdom Pattern: Order, Disorder, Reorder (Franciscan Media: 2001, 2020), 135–138.

Unexpected Detours

· ·

I have been thinking lately about our journeys through life and the Unexpected Detours that change our direction. If you have ever had one of these detours that force or give you an ability to change directions, you are left asking yourself a question…… This is a question that repeats like a trending pop song you just cannot get out of your head, and only contains 6 words…

“Did I make the RIGHT choice?”

This question is asked because often in these detour moments we are left to choose the direction forward. If we are followers of Christ, we lean into God…. Attempting to find the direction God wants us to go, and very rarely do we hear a voice from heaven guiding our steps. This leads to us making the best decision we can and trusting it is in step with what God wants for us. Coming to this decision after countless hours of prayer and reflection with God. We sometimes know shortly after if the decision we made was correct but often we are left with a 6-word question.

“Did I make the RIGHT choice?”

              I know this question has repeated in my head numerous times, and I have often struggled with knowing if I made the right decision throughout my life in these Unexpected Detours. If we are honest this question rings louder at times when what we expected does not happen. We wonder if our life journey would be greener if we made a different choice, so we ask ourselves…….

“Did I make the RIGHT choice?”

              What if this is the wrong question to ask ourselves? In the story of Jonah, we read of a prophet who consistently rebelled against God. When he did listen to God, he only does the bare minimum required. Throughout his journey though we read of God meeting him and those around him. Pagan sailors turn to God and are welcomed by God’s divine grace. A city called Nineveh, known for its dominance and violence, turns to God and are embraced by his divine grace. God consistently meets Jonah on this journey regardless of his decision making. Jonah creates detour after detour and God simply continues to move and show more people his divine grace. We should not ask ourselves the question that repeats in our head about these Unexpected Detour moments, and instead ask ourselves another 6-word question.

“Do I lean into God’s grace?”

by Pastor Matt George

Ed Dobson’s Story

· ·

Check out this video about Rev Ed Dobson

Become the kind of person who can find hope in the midst of difficult circumstances. In It Ain’t Over, the first film in the Ed’s Story series, Ed Dobson reminds us that life isn’t over yet and that we don’t have to feel overwhelmed by the struggles we’re facing today. Difficult news can sometimes make us feel like our lives are over. Ed shows us that we don’t know the future, and that things may turn out quite differently from what we expect.

Love Your Enemies

· ·

The following is a meditation writing from Richard Rohr from November 9th ,2020 from the Center for Action and Contemplation:

You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall love your neighbor, and hate your enemy.’ But I say unto you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, so that you may be children of your Father in heaven. —Matthew 5:43–45

In the United States few public figures have spoken more plainly and powerfully about Jesus’ teaching to love our enemies than the Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. This was not an abstract theological question for Dr. King. He wrestled practically and at great cost with how to love his enemies, both through prayer and through nonviolent direct action. This passage is an excerpt from King’s sermon “Loving Your Enemies.”

When I speak of love I am not speaking of some sentimental and weak response. I am speaking of that force which all of the great religions have seen as the supreme unifying principle of life. Love is somehow the key that unlocks the door which leads to ultimate reality. . . .

Probably no admonition of Jesus has been more difficult to follow than the command to “love your enemies.” Some people have sincerely felt that its actual practice is not possible. It is easy, they say, to love those who love you, but how can one love those who openly and insidiously seek to defeat you? . . .

This command of Jesus challenges us with new urgency. Upheaval after upheaval has reminded us that modern humanity is traveling along a road called hate, in a journey that will bring us to destruction. . . . Far from being the pious injunction of a Utopian dreamer, the command to love one’s enemy is an absolute necessity for our survival. Love even for enemies is the key to the solution of the problems of our world. Jesus is not an impractical idealist: he is the practical realist.

I am certain that Jesus understood the difficulty inherent in the act of loving one’s enemy. He never joined the ranks of those who talk glibly about the easiness of the moral life. He realized that every genuine expression of love grows out of a consistent and total surrender to God. So when Jesus said “Love your enemy,” he was not unmindful of its stringent qualities. Yet he meant every word of it. Our responsibility as Christians is to discover the meaning of this command and seek passionately to live it out in our daily lives. . . .

When Jesus bids us to love our enemies, he is speaking of neither eros [romantic love] nor philia [reciprocal love of friends]; he is speaking of agape, understanding and creative, redemptive goodwill for all people. Only by following this way and responding with this type of love are we able to be children of our Father who is in Heaven.

Richard again: This is a timely reminder to Christians around the world. We must ask ourselves “What would it mean to seek to embody love as ‘creative, redemptive goodwill’ on behalf of all living things?”

All Around Us

· ·

The Kingdom of God is always

Working, Moving, Breathing, and Dancing

All around us.

Help me to see this God because when I look, I see

Pain, Suffering, Distrust, Violence, and Manipulation of Power.

Help me to remember the parable of the Growing Seed found in the Gospel of Mark.

This parable allows us to see that the Kingdom of God is always

Working, Moving, Breathing, and Dancing

All around us.

You are calling for our partnership in this continued growth because

You are a God of relationship.

When I see

Pain, Suffering, Distrust, Violence, and Manipulation of Power.

You call me to partner with your Kingdom that is always

Working, Moving, Breathing, and Dancing

All around us

Even if I am unable to see it.

Like a seed that grows underground even when

We cannot see.

The Kingdom of God is always

Working, Moving, Breathing, and Dancing

All around us.

by Pastor Matt George

Brave Creativity

· ·

Material from: Richard Rohr’s Daily Meditation From the Center for Action and Contemplation

Practice: Brave Creativity

In 2010, Living School sendee Jonathon Stalls spent 242 days walking across the United States. The journey inspired him to help other people experience “life at 3 miles per hour.” As an artist and social and racial justice advocate, his activism is communicated through community building, contemplative practice, and walking meditation. We invite you, as able, to take some time this weekend to move mindfully through your local area. Jonathon offers these instructions:

Prep:
Bring a notebook, invite goals/pains/dreams with you, and perhaps protect some time for pre-writing (What might you want to open, envision, dream, wake up to as you walk/roll?). . . .

Timing & Location:
[Move] at least 30‒40 minutes. Unhurried. Right where you are, and, if you can, the less distractions or barriers, the better. If you can be in quieter or smoother environments, you will have a greater creative capacity.

Safety & Health:
[Bring a mask with you.] If near people, please wear it when you are 6‒10 feet away. Have water, comfortable shoes/clothing, and sun [protection].

Before You Begin Moving:
Pause and take a few deep breaths. As your lungs expand, envision your veins, brain capacity, heart capacity, and dream capacity expanding with them. Be as open as you can be.

Movement:
As you begin to move, seek the realms of wonder, of space, and of reaching high into what’s possible. Look up at the sky as often as you can. As you move, notice the way branches adapt, bend, and emerge from the sides. They started in one direction . . .  where did they end up? How are they filling in and thriving in the spaces where no branch existed before? Notice the way clouds move, plants rest and blossom, and colors evolve as the sun goes down.

After roughly 20 minutes notice what begins to clear, notice what begins to open around your ideas, dreams, and possible barriers/blocks. Be ready with that notebook! I find that it is super helpful to simply honor what comes up by jotting it down. I can then release it, which will allow for more creative room. Try not to overthink or shut down ideas. This is a time to allow and celebrate imagination. If you aren’t noticing moments of inspiration and creativity, don’t worry . . . this practice can take time to set in. In time (and with practice!) it will open and expand your thinking, living, and BEing in beautiful and revealing ways.

I deeply invite you to use this practice alongside how you (how we) can envision a more human way that honors Human dignity, honors and protects our Planet, and honors our own inner journey. I believe we need brave body-based practices that inspire Radical Creativity(centering human justice, planet care, and inner healing) in this time more than ever.

Close:
Take one or two more deep breaths and commit to movement practice as a way to invite brave creativity around dreams, creative vision, conflict, feeling stuck, stress, and more. Honor and thank your Body and the Earth.

Jonathon Stalls, Walking/Movement Practices: {Opening} Brave Creativity, Intrinsic Paths, https://www.intrinsicpaths.com/walking-invitation

Duck in Water

· ·

I write this to give whoever reads hope because we all feel like a Duck in Water at times. If you do not know what I mean by that, please let me explain……. What I mean by that is all of us at times feel in over our heads.

Above the water we look calm like a duck and others don’t even notice because we keep up the lie that we are okay……Below the water though our legs are kicking like crazy which is the same as a duck.  We feel in over our heads and at any moment we will be caught……

We think things like I am not smart, good, funny, or pretty enough……. soon people will find out my inability and weakness, so we do our best to look like a Duck in Water.

Do not be afraid because this is right where God wants us to be at times because in our weakness, we discover his strength. Maybe just like we know a duck is kicking like crazy underwater, people know we are feeling in over our heads…… What if part of finding that strength from God is realising, we all feel like a Duck in Water at times and that is okay……….

The water has always been transparent and in its depth, we find God.

by Pastor Matt George

One final thing…

· ·

And now, dear brothers and sisters, one final thing. Fix your thoughts on what is true, and honorable, and right, and pure, and lovely, and admirable. Think about things that are excellent and worthy of praise.

Philippians 4:8

“In difficult times carry something beautiful in your heart.”

Blaise Pascal

I just came across this quote and found it a great reminder of what God desires for our life. Sometimes there’s a weariness that comes with the relentless demands of life and relationships. Sometimes all I want to do is do nothing.

My day begins again and already so many things are rushing at me. I want to pause, to take in what’s beautiful. I want to stop to allow myself to be a little kinder to myself first – not selfishly but because I want to be with my God who is seeking out that beautiful part of me.Perhaps this is the cause of my weariness. I haven’t yet learned to stay long enough with what is beautiful.

Blessings Chris

Reluctant Leadership

· ·

In this current season I have been doing a lot of thinking around Leadership and have attended countless leadership webinars, podcast, and Zoom sessions. These things have always helped led to positive reflection during times of contemplation afterwards. I say this because I am positive these things have helped me come to point of writing my first blog type post. To be honest I am scared about typing something on the internet and would rather share things in person where there is room for conversation to flow. This avenue, I only get a couple of proofreads then once it is posted it is done……. but I feel a need to write this now in this season for the person who may need to hear this about leadership and hopefully conversations flow from it. I believe it is important for us to focus on the kind of leadership that can inspire and led to change in our society which is Reluctant Leadership, which is someone leading not out of personal desire but rather from a place of divine calling where no one else is willing to lead or speak out against injustices that plague God’s creation.

               To give an example of Reluctant Leadership I want to look at an example of this found within the Bible about the extremely influential leader, Moses. Personally, I have always connected with the example of Moses found in the Bible, as I am sure many others have as well. He is a perfect example of Reluctant Leadership and helps us see how this style leadership is needed in our society. It’s a harsh reality that so much of our world is driven by a culture that can cause individuals to lead out of a space to gain more power and personify their own ego. This style of leadership can lead to further improvement in our society but will never create the inspiration required to truly change our society. For this change to happen and be effectively inspired it needs to come from the place of Reluctant Leadership like the example of Moses we find in the Bible. Moses is a prime example of Reluctant Leadership and we realise that very early when we read about the encounter, he had with the burning bush in Exodus chapter 3 & 4. Throughout this experience God performs amazing signs which brings Moses to lead (read it is interesting).

               After these amazing signs, Moses is still not leaping towards leadership or wanting to gain influence. He is happy working on the land and raising his family and feels God could find someone else to lead his people out of Egypt. In Exodus 4:13, which is right before the conclusion of the burning bush, he begs the Lord to send someone else and God tells him his brother Aaron will lead with him. This call to lead is something that Moses is not seeking but a divine calling from God to inspire a nation. Throughout the book of Exodus, we read about the amazing things God does through Moses and how Moses grows in his leadership. Throughout the story Moses consistently shows the strengths found in Reluctant Leadership and consistently tries to encourage others to step up to their calling. We see this after Moses receives the 10 Commandments on Mount Sinai (God loves showing up in nature) when he speaks the following words to the nation of Israel after they ask Moses to not let God speak to them in Exodus 20:18-21.

All the people witnessed[a] the thunder and lightning, the sound of the ram’s horn, and the mountain surrounded by smoke. When the people saw it they trembled and stood at a distance. “You speak to us, and we will listen,” they said to Moses, “but don’t let God speak to us, or we will die.”

Moses responded to the people, “Don’t be afraid, for God has come to test you, so that you will fear him and will not sin.” And the people remained standing at a distance as Moses approached the total darkness where God was.

               Moses had an opportunity in this moment to gain his power and cement his place as the one on top. Instead, he encourages others to not be afraid of God speaking to them knowing leadership was not about him, his ego, or gaining more power. In this moment we see Moses leading, and consistently throughout Exodus, to inspire others to step up to their calling which can only come from Reluctant Leadership.

By: Pastor Matt George

A Perennial Wisdom

· ·

      Richard Rohr’s Daily Meditation
From the Center for Action and Contemplation Image credit: Revelations of Divine Love (detail), mid-15th century, (Add MS 37790) f. 97r from The British Library Manuscript, The British Library, London, England.
  Julian of Norwich       A Perennial Wisdom
Monday,  May 11, 2020   Although Julian of Norwich is an anonymous woman who lived over 600 years ago, seekers and scholars return to her “showings” again and again. Author Veronica Mary Rolf describes why Julian’s wisdom is perennial, valuable, and needed whenever there is confusion and suffering, which is to say, in every time and place. Rolf writes: Perhaps the best answer to the question “Why Julian now?” is that in our age of uncertainty, inconceivable suffering, and seemingly perpetual violence and war (not unlike fourteenth-century Europe), Julian shows us the way toward contemplative peace. . . .  In a world of deadly diseases and ecological disasters, Julian teaches us how to endure pain in patience and trust that Christ is working to transform every cross into resurrected glory. . . . Moreover, across six centuries, Julian’s voice speaks to us about love. She communicates personally, as if she were very much with us here and now. Even more than theological explanations, we all hunger for love. Our hearts yearn for someone we can trust absolutely—divine love that can never fail. Julian reveals this love because, like Mary Magdalene, she experienced it firsthand. . . . Precisely because she had the courage of her convictions, Julian of Norwich became the first woman ever to write a book in the English language. . . . Even more, this “unlettered” woman developed a mystical theology that was second to none during the fourteenth century and that continues to break barriers in our own time. . . . Julian is also emotionally raw, often tempted by self-doubt and discouragement, yet constantly renewed in hope. She does something extremely dangerous for a layperson living in the fourteenth century: she discloses her conflict between the predominant medieval idea of a judgmental and wrathful God and her direct experience of the unconditional love of Christ on the cross. . . . Why is Julian so appealing today? I think because she is totally vulnerable and transparently honest, without any guile. She is “homely”; in medieval terms, that means down-to-earth, familiar, and easily accessible. She is keenly aware of her spiritual brokenness and longs to be healed. So do we. She experiences great suffering of body, mind, and soul. So do we. She has moments of doubt. So do we. She seeks answers to age-old questions. So do we. Then, at a critical turning point in her revelations, she is overwhelmed by joy and “gramercy” (great thanks) for the graces she is receiving. We, too, are suddenly granted graces and filled to overflowing with gratitude. Sometimes, we even experience our own divine revelations. Again, and again, Julian reassures each one of us that we are loved by God, unconditionally. In her writings, we hear Christ telling us, just as he told Julian, “I love you and you love me, and our love shall never be separated in two.” [1]  
Gateway to Action & Contemplation:
What word or phrase resonates with or challenges me? What sensations do I notice in my body? What is mine to do?

Prayer for Our Community:
O Great Love, thank you for living and loving in us and through us. May all that we do flow from our deep connection with you and all beings. Help us become a community that vulnerably shares each other’s burdens and the weight of glory. Listen to our hearts’ longings for the healing of our world. [Please add your own intentions.] . . . Knowing you are hearing us better than we are speaking, we offer these prayers in all the holy names of God, amen. Listen to Fr. Richard read the prayer.

Story from Our Community: 
Grief creates a strange disorientation to time. It suspends you from the world around. Hours stretch on while minutes fly by. Reality becomes permeable. Life zooms in on the most essential functions—eating, breathing, sleeping. The most crucial elements of existence become crystal clear, situated on the point of a pin—love, time, substance. We are all here, suspended in time together. We grieve a collective grief. –D. Ainsworth Share your own story with us.    

[1] Julian of Norwich, The Fourteenth Revelation, ch. 58 (Long Text). Adapted from Veronica Mary Rolf, An Explorer’s Guide to Julian of Norwich, (IVP Academic: 2018), 18-21. Image credit: Revelations of Divine Love (detail), mid-15th century, (Add MS 37790) f. 97r from The British Library Manuscript, The British Library, London, England.  

How Easter Gives Us Hope In The Midst Of A Pandemic

· ·

by Sarah Anderson found on https://theparentcue.org/how-easter-gives-us-hope-in-the-midst-of-a-pandemic/

I’ve got good news and bad news.

The bad news is: we’re in the middle of a health crisis and global pandemic that has radically restructured our normal routines and ways of life that none of us have ever had to walk through before.

The good news is: we’re all in it together. None of us have been here before—meaning we’re all learning as we go, and we-re co-journeyers in these unprecedented times.

But even in the camaraderie of knowing we are in this together, there are the questions.

  • How do we fill our days?
  • How do we get everything done that needs to get done?
  • How do we maximize family time?
  • How do we not drive each other crazy in the process?
  • How do we instill faith in our kids, while also addressing the very real fear they (and we) are facing?

Don’t overcomplicate the already complicated

As a parent of an eight and ten year old, these are the questions on repeat in my head—especially the last one. As an adult that struggles with fear and anxiety of my own, I worry about what my kids are not just picking up from the news, but from my own behaviors.

I wonder how much information is too much for them to handle. I debate over what to tell them and what to keep to myself. I find myself thinking I’m never doing it right for my kids, because it often feels like I am never doing it right for myself.

These were the things cycling around and around in my mind the past couple of weeks. Until one of the rare moments of quiet in my house—that never seems to empty of the people who live here anymore—I wondered if maybe we’re over complicating things. Not that these aren’t complicated times, but that maybe returning to the basics is the best thing we can do.

Between Christmas and Easter

As a country, the reality of COVID-19 really hit home for us in the time between Christmas and Easter. As I thought about the timing of it all, it didn’t seem insignificant. In fact, it seemed like maybe there was meaning there that would help us, as a family, as parents to young kids, navigate the fear.

When I think of Christmas, I think of the message of Immanuel—God with us. I think of the enormity of the decision God made in sending divinity to live alongside humanity. I think of the normalness Jesus was born into—the mundane features of day to day life, but also the fear and unknowing and uncertainty of day-to-day life.

The message of Christmas—33 years before Jesus died—was that God saw us and wanted to be near us. And so He came. And He stayed. And for so many people who encountered Him in the 33 years he walked the Earth, it was His presence alongside them that changed things for them.

And then, just a couple of months later, we celebrate Easter.

A time we specifically draw attention to for the celebration of the resurrection of Jesus from the dead. But tucked into the message of Easter isn’t simply the particular message of Jesus’ life after death.

What Easter is about

Easter is the message of beauty from ashes. It’s the message of the hardest things imaginable—yielding life when it seemed improbable, impossible.

It’s the idea that the worst things are never the last things. That the story isn’t over. That love wins. That good wins. That life is full of hurt and loss, of hard and uncertain, and that to feel those things and acknowledge those things isn’t weak, but necessary.

And that even then, God meets us there with a message of life and hope and newness.

In other words, in a season marked by fear and loss, of uncertainty and difficulty, there are the two most fundamental messages of Christianity to draw comfort from:

God is with us. And the story isn’t over.

Easter reminds us that God is with us

These days, as I parent my kids—and I coach myself day in day out—I keep these two messages front and center.

  • When faith shrinks in the face of fear, God is with us.
  • When loss overwhelms us, the story isn’t over.

We may be new to parenting in the time of a pandemic. But what we are feeling isn’t new to God. The messages He made sure humanity received are the messages we need more now than ever. In uncertain times, we have God’s presence. In a new normal that shows no signs of changing, we have hope that the story isn’t over, and beauty can come even from this.

Parenting in a pandemic raises a lot of questions. But it also raises to the forefront of our minds the two most foundational ideas of our faith.

When parenting our kids and wondering if we’re doing it right, we can be sure we are at least doing something right when we recenter our family’s dialogue around the things that never cease to be true, when everything else around us changes.

God is with us. And the story isn’t over.

Encouragement in the Storm

· ·

By Kimberley George

Don’t miss this opportunity. This chance to grow into the change.

Backstory to this word- The last couple years for us have been a shaking and shattering. It’s been 2 gruesome years of breaking in ways I never thought I could break. I never ever thought in my life I’d look back and see the terrain I’d hiked through as I faced illness, isolation, loss of friends (and gained some incredible friendships too 😉). As our beautiful country experienced the hardest and harshest conditions, I too would face this in my own life. I felt I’d seen a drought in myself just like the land I stepped on had faced. I’d fought through fire that took every bit of strength for me to see it through.
This year rolled by and we faced leaving our church family of four years (some of our hardest but most critical years as a family) and in that God led us to the place we are now and an opportunity for Matt and for us to start new. So we moved house, changed schools, started new. It felt like an amazing change but like a crazy time to be moving with how fast the change just swept in and how unprepared I felt physically.
I had a word in January that this year would be a year of healing and revival. And that the revival would happen in homes where the churches would have a role to play in that too. I knew that this word was for the church but that this meant healing for myself and others too.

FOR SUCH A TIME AS THIS
I really felt this word for now.
We are entering a chrysalis time. The butterfly is first a caterpillar and feeds constantly until one day it finds a safe place and rests in all of what it’s taken in to prepare for the greatest and most beautiful transformation- the butterfly. Where all it’s colour, design and beauty is displayed. This is an intersting time. There is an increase of butterflies because of the conditions before them. First a drought, then tremendous fires across our land and then the rain. These conditions laid the perfect foundations for butterflies to increase. How amazing is this. This is what is happening to the church. The conditions are right and we’re now presented with the most beautiful opportunity to press into God in a secret place at home.
We have a chance to be still and more capable of listening to where God is leading us now. To do this we need to rest somewhere safe, and to have the wisdom to know when the news and information is taking from our peace and becoming an idol. We need to chrysalise ourselves into a protective space away from fear so we can be a part of what God is about to do. We can either be a part of this incredible revival that is about to happen or we can keep eating into fear that leads only to more fear and unrest. What will you chose? God is calling his people to him. But we have to answer that call. He give us that freedom to choose. Fear? Or growth? Things are changing and we will not be the same.

Don’t miss this church. And don’t bow to fear the world gives.

Another fellow Christian recommended to read the book of Esther. This seems like the perfect time to do that 💛

The Good Shepherd

· ·

The Good Shepherd

The Lord is my soul mate, who never loses sight of me.

He gives more than I ask, more than I can imagine.

The boundary lines He leads me to

Are pleasant, full of abundant goodness, generous provision.

Though He may lead me through places called ‘difficulty’ or ‘uncertainty’,

He is close by and leads me out into broad places of blessing again.

He strengthens my soul through this journey.

His comfort increases my trust in Him.

He gives me boldness and courage before adversity,

In the faces of all who torment me.

But I am not moved.

His goodness and mercy surround me on every side.

For all the days to come He will care for me.

I will remain together, forever with Him.

Nothing will separate me from His loving presence.

-Jennifer Woodley

Keith’s Reflection on Psalm 24

· ·

At our Planning & Discernment Day for the beginning of 2016 we had a time of reflection around Psalm 24.  The wide range of responses that came from people in our church in this time of reflection were truly inspiring.

This is what came out of Keith’s reflection on Psalm 24:

 

Everyone is precious to God,

No matter how ugly they may seem.

For God sent His only Son,

To Allow us all to fulfil His dream.

 

The gates are open to one and all,

To enter and prepare for this precious gift,

That God has sent in His heavens to declare.

 

May our hearts be open like a gate,

Where others can see what truly awaits.

May God’s love truly shine in His church,

Where all will find ‘His Amazing Grace’.